Exploring Ireland Solo – Powerscourt Estate

I left Kilkenny in the morning and had decided to head to Powerscourt Estate on the way to my last B&B in Glendalough. According to Google maps, this journey was supposed to take about 2 hours. However, there was a bad accident on the M11 and they closed the entire freeway down. Since everyone had to get off at the same exit, the road was backed up for miles and miles. I’ll talk about this in my summary post but I was operating without any GPS because I didn’t pay for international cell service… So, I had to pull over and look at the paper map I had and figure out a way to get where I was going without taking the freeway.

Stressful day for sure but when I finally made it to Powerscourt, it was worth it. I mean, look at these photos! If you love grand houses and amazing gardens, you are going to LOVE this place. The gardens were recently voted No.3 in the World’s Top Ten Gardens by National Geographic. So, you know it’s good 😉

The gardens spread out over 47 acres so you could really spend a whole day wandering around and taking time in them all. I think I was here for about 3 hours and I saw a good amount of the gardens. One thing to note, the house is just a big gift shop/cafe and there is nothing to really tour there. I was surprised by this fact but I think the gardens are really the main attraction anyway!

When you walk out the back, you’ll head down a grand staircase which takes you to the gardens. I made my way down the steps to pond first. I lucked out with another gorgeous day which was much needed after being stuck in the car for so long!

I headed over to the Japanese gardens next which were just incredible. The trees were flowering and everything was so green. I’m a big fan of Japanese maple trees which were

I did not know what these were at first because this bush was GIANT! The biggest azaleas I’ve ever seen!

I headed down the path on the backside of the pond and was rewarded with this view.

Turn around and you get this view…

Then I kept walking and horses were just there frolicking? Is this real life?!

When you are closer to the house, you move into the walled and manicured gardens complete with these amazing ornate gates.

Beautiful photos! Ireland is the perfect place to travel solo, in my opinion. Everyone is helpful and friendly and it’s a great place to discover yourself. It’s always empowering to hear stories like this. Happy travels!

Thanks so much! You’re right, I thought the solo travel was pretty easy. Everyone was very nice and I was proud of finding my way everywhere with no phone! I need to go back again and try harder to meet locals though. My introverted self has to really try hard in that regard! 🙂

Oh my goodness! Those gardens look absolutely lovely! I really love the pictures of flowers you took as well. I have a similar feeling with visiting Versailles–the house was too overly toursity but I could spend ages wandering around the gardens!

Thanks, I took SO many flower photos! I really had to narrow it down… haha! I totally agree about Versailles too! The gardens are probably the best part. Not to say the interior is anything to shake a stick at 😉